


Circle of Memories

by shellyes



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends: Knights of the Old Republic (Video Games), Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Memory Alteration
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-07
Updated: 2020-02-07
Packaged: 2021-03-07 03:35:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,698
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21699277
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shellyes/pseuds/shellyes
Summary: Anakin didn’t remember his past, but there was no time to dwell on that fact as he and his fellow solider Padme attempt to find the famous Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi in the underbelly of Taris before the Sith that shot down the Endar Spire does. It’s the aftermath of the Mandalorian wars, and everything is falling apart.
Comments: 5
Kudos: 18





	1. Confusion on the Endar Spire

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to my haphazard KOTOR AU! This is my first "real" fanfiction, and the first chapter alone is longer than I've ever written before. Constructive feedback is appreciated, but I am just doing this for fun so keep that in mind!

Anakin woke to alarms blaring and the spire shaking around him. The barracks room looked foreign around him, the red painting what must have been his desk and his roommate’s bed in strange colors. He reached for his belt, grabbing his light -- his blaster. It wasn’t what he had been expecting to find, but that was silly. He had always used a blaster, every pilot had one.

“Skywalker!”

He looked up, to see a stranger standing at the door. The stranger’s face was terse. He clearly expected Anakain to know him, even though he didn’t.

“What’s happening?” asked Anakin, deciding to ignore the unknowns. An emergency was no time to indulge the weirdness in his head, and trying to remember the stranger just aggravated the headache he was getting from the alarms.

“The Sith are attacking. We need to find Kenobi!” the man indicated with his blaster, looking annoyed at Anakin’s hesitance.

Of course he was annoyed, Anakin realized. This was no drill. He half-remembered evacuation protocal that must have been drilled into him at the beginning of his service. He should be gone already, if he wasn’t being to strange today.

Anakin didn’t know who Kenobi was either, but he wasn’t about to ask. Just like the stranger’s identity, Kenobi was another face that he should’ve known. He must have hit his head before he woke up. It was better to just go with the flow then to make the stranger wait for his bullshit.

He got up and followed the stranger as they ran through the halls. The spire was wrecked, the red lights flickering in and out with the booms that could be heard in the distance. Anakin could see scorch marks on the wall, some from blasters and others whose source he couldn’t identify. Enemies had clearly boarded while he had been in his fugue.

He could hear fighting around the corner. He skidded to a stop, but the stranger kept running for a beat or two more.

“What are you doing? We need to take back the spire so we can help Kenobi! Remember your oaths!” the stranger glared at Anakin, before charging into the battle in front of him.

Anakin followed, hands shaking over the blaster. His head might be scrambled, but he could tell his discomfort with the blaster that he was no soldier. It felt big and clunky in his hands. Still, if the stranger said he had made some oath — he couldn’t abandon it, even if he doesn’t remember it at the moment. He felt a surge of disgust so strong that it almost felt like it came from outside himself at the thought of breaking his oaths.

The battle was over in almost a blur. The solider that had been fighting the armored troops before Anakin and the stranger came upon them lay dead on the floor, her shoulder still smoking from the blast.

“Come on, no time to mourn. We have to keep moving.”

The stranger and Anakin kept moving forwards, taking out any troops that they ran into. Anakin assumed they must be making their way towards some part of the ship where this ‘Kenobi’ might be, which he hoped was also where the escape pods would be. The spire certainly wasn’t in good shape.

They come across the bridge, and the stranger pauses and sighs. “It looks like Kenobi has already retreated from the bridge… once Kenobi evacuates, there’s nothing stopping the Sith from blasting the Endar Spire into galactic dust. We should evacuate too.”

They move on, now picking their way through fallen debris and the occasional corpse. The escape pods must be closer to wherever these ‘Sith’ that the stranger had mentioned had boarded the spire, as the density of downed soldiers both ally and enemy increased as they progressed.

The stranger suddenly motions for Anakin to stop, indicating in front of him. Distant sounds of what must be a lightsaber battle come from the path that they need to take.

“Do you have your melee backup weapon?” asks the stranger, in vain. Pilots don’t usually carry melee weapons since they require more proficiency to use, and he knows it.

“No,” Anakin confirms the strangers suspicions.

“It sounds like there’s two Jedi fighting up ahead. I’ll provide support while you continue past and look for Kenobi.”

Without waiting for Anakin’s confirmation, the stranger takes out his vibreblade and charges forwards. Anakin follows in time to see him join the fray, intercepting a potential killing blow to what must be an ally. As all three of them begin fighting, Anakin knows he doesn’t have the skills to help. He would be just as likely to blow away the Jedi or the stranger, so he keeps on running past.

Just as he’s about to turn the corner, he smells the sickening odor of a lightsaber burning flesh, and the voice of the stranger screaming. He doesn’t turn back.

There are more troops between Anakin and the presumed direction of the escape pod, and Anakin’s progress slows as he fights his way through. Without the stranger’s support, his lack of skill with the blaster shines through more obviously, and his thigh began to ach from all the medpacs that he had used. His discomfort fighting through the Sith made sense, and if anything Anakin was surprised he had made it so far. He was a pilot, not a foot soldier, and they only got minimal combat training. A pilot behind enemy lines was almost always assumed dead, and this situation was almost certainly worse than that. His abnormal luck when flying must have continued into his combat skills, as the strikes and shots of the sith soldiers kept barely missing him.

“This is Padme Amidala. I can see you from the Endar Spire’s life support systems. Kenobi has already left in his own escape pod. You need to get to the escape pod — I can’t hold much longer, and you’re the last surviving crew member I can detect.”

A voice crackles through the personal communicator on Anakin’s hip, startling him from his temporary rest in what seemed to be a break room. He was the last surviving crew member? Surely that must be wrong. But if this ‘Padme Amidala’ was about to leave on the last escape pod, he had to hurry.

“Be careful. There’s some Sith troopers in the corridor before the pods.”

Anakin groans to himself. He doesn’t know if he can take anymore Sith troopers. He’s already used up all his med pacs, and his fingers feel shaky on the blaster trigger. Still, if the only other option is to lie down and die, he has to keep moving.

He opens the door and immediately runs into the Sith troopers that Padme must have meant.

“E chu ta!” he palms the door to close it immediately, not having expected them to be right there. He knew he was close to the escape pods, but not that close!

He scrambles under a table before the Sith open the door again, entering the room with weapons drawn. Anakin peers out nervously as what must be a Jedi stalks through the door, the red of her lightsaber barely visible.

The Sith spread out and begin to search the room. Anakin knows that he won’t be able to beat all of them, let alone take on the woman with a lightsaber. His mind races through his options as the Jedi steps away from the door, leaving him a direct path.

He bolts, and the Sith immediately turn their blasters on him as the Jedi shouts in surprise. He makes it past the doors and shoots at the panel, causing them to jam shut. Then, he falls to the ground, clasping his right leg where one of the blasters had hit him. Of course it was too much to expect such a thoughtless escape to go perfectly.

He limps down the corridor, hoping that Padme’s silence didn’t mean that she had left yet. The way her voice sounded on the personal communicator, she sounded like an important person — not the type that waits for a single crew member instead of evacuating.

He stumbles into the door and it jankily opens, giving him time to catch his footing again.

“You made it!” said a voice that must be Padme. She sounded kinder than she had on the communicator, uninhibited by the limited range and static. “We need to leave right now. The spire is going down.”

She grabbed Anakin’s hand and pulled him into the escape pod, guiding him to sit down.

“Kenobi’s escape pod was gone, so we must have gotten away too. We can reconnect with him on Taris.” She moved away and began to trigger the escape sequence, disengaging the pod and setting it on a vague trajectory towards the planet below.

Anakin took in her appearance for the first time. She looked different than he had expected. From her voice, he had pictured some rough war veteran, older but grizzled and determined. Instead, she looked only a bit older than him, with her hair braided and tucked into her regulation soldier’s uniform. Unlike other soldiers Anakin had seen, it seemed like she took care of it.

“You’re really pretty...” Anakin muttered as his world started getting fuzzy. The hit he must’ve taken to the head had messed him up more than he thought. Her eyes were pretty too, even when they were looking at him in surprise as he slipped from the chair and fell into unconsciousness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you want to know what roles I've casted the characters in, see https://pastebin.com/hnKwxPSR. Obviously spoilers, though I tried to keep it light. 
> 
> Thanks for reading! Comments would be greatly appreciated if you enjoyed it.


	2. Chapter 2

Anakin’s dreams were troubled, filled with lightsabers crashing against each other. He awoke to see Padme reading a holopad at the table beside him, her brow furrowed in concentration. She looked up when she heard in sit up, smiling in relief to see him awake. 

“It’s good to see you up,” she said, shifting her chair to face Anakin, “you’ve been asleep for a while. Almost two days since we escaped the Spire. I was worried about you.” 

“How did we get here?” Anakin asked, looking around the room. It was cramped and dingy, but still filled with the necessities of life – a bed, which Anakin was taking up, a desk and chair, and a secure chest for storage. It seemed above their means, especially considering Padme would have had to transport him as well. 

“It’s an abandoned apartment. I managed to drag you here before the Sith discovered our pod. It seems like a lot of people cleared out of Taris – all that’s left in it’s lower levels are aliens and people without the means to leave.” 

“Those sith bastards control this planet?” Anakin massaged his head, trying to ward of the headache that he felt was coming. From his days on Tatooine he could tell it was a dehydration headache, likely from the two days he had gone without drinking. “Is there water access here?” 

“Oh! Of course!” Padme rose and pulled out a water pouch from her pack, pouring it into a bottle for Anakin. As she handed the bottle to him, her face shifted into an awkward expression. “I never caught your name.” 

Anakin was already drinking the water as she spoke, and cut himself off to mirror her awkwardness. “Sorry. I’m Anakin Skywalker,” he paused to take another sip of water, “Republic pilot for the Endar Spire.” 

“Well then it’s nice to meet you, Anakin. I’m Padme Amidala, a Republic diplomat.” She smiled softly, then hardened. “Once you’re recovered, we need to talk about our next steps. The Sith have blockaded the planet and are trying to find Jedi Master Kenobi. We need to find him and get off Taris.” 

“I don’t think I’ll be much help there,” Anakin sighed, “I don’t really know anything about Taris, and I’ve never seen Kenobi in person before.”  
“Didn’t you get told about the planet when we were deployed here?” Padme frowned, “and how have you never seen your commander before? Hammerhead Corvettes are big, but they’re not that big.”

Anakin put down his bottle of water to hide his hesitation. He didn’t want to tell Padme about the full extent of his confusion – it seemed like the kind of weakness that would leave him ‘resting’ in this dingy apartment until she managed to rescue Kenobi on her own, despite the fact that he knew he was still combat-capable. Even without his memories he was certainly more equipped to handle a rescue mission than a diplomat. 

“What kind of pilot pays attention during a briefing? If we get knocked down into orbit, we’re good as dead,” he shrugged, bluffing, “and you’d be surprised by how separate pilots can be from command.”

He had no idea if any of this was true, but he thought it was a good bet that she would know even less than him about it. 

“I suppose that makes sense. Well then,” Padme nodded to herself, “I guess I can tell you what I know about Taris. Mind you, it’s a diplomatic perspective, not a ground tactics one, but it’s better than nothing.” 

“Taris is a segmented city, with three main parts -- the upper city, the lower city, and the under city. The upper city is mostly humans, with a couple slums like we’re in now for unlucky humans or well off non-humans. The lower city is full of swoop gangs and has a higher population of non-humans. The under city is the only part that actually touches the ground of Taris, and I honestly don’t know much about it beyond that its where they occasionally banish criminals, and that it should be avoided. It used to be under Republic control -- as you know, we fought for it in the Mandalorian Wars -- but the Sith have control now, and they’ve set up a blockade to prevent anyone from leaving.”

“Good thing we’re both human standard then, geeze.” Anakin had never understood the superiority that some humans had about looking human standard. For all that humans tended to dominate core and mid rim worlds of the Republic, he had a sense that they were way less common – and way less powerful – in the parts of space that he had spent time in. 

“Do we know where Kenobi was likely to have crashed?”

“If he had crashed in the upper city like we did I think we would’ve heard by now. They were on our escape pod wreck almost instantly, and when I went out I heard people talking about it. He had to have crashed somewhere lower down.” 

“Well then,” Anakin grunted, and made to stand up, “no time to waste before searching for him, right?” 

He gave Padme his best, most charming smile, as he tried to distract her from his arms shaking with the effort to fully get himself out of bed.  
“I suppose not,” she smiled back, standing up and automatically resting her hand on her blaster.

“I don’t suppose you kept my weapons and armor somewhere?” Anakin joked, realizing that he was still in what seemed like civilian clothes and didn’t have a single weapon on him. It said something to how out of it he was that he hadn’t realized he wasn’t even carrying a backup weapon. 

“Of course,” Padme nodded at the trunk, “in there. The code’s 1138.” 

Anakin walked over to the trunk, opening it to observe the armor he’d had on before the Spire went down, a blaster, and a vibrosword. He put on the armor quickly, making sure that it fit well, before slipping his assigned pilot’s boots, gloves, and belt on. They hadn’t done very well in the direct combat on the ship, but they were still better than nothing. He hesitated on the weapons before picking up both, slipping them into the holsters on the belt. The vibrosword was a bit awkward in the pilot’s belt - while it had a holder suited for a variety of melee weapons, a vibroblade would’ve been more suited to it’s size. Still, something about the vibrosword felt right to him. 

“Ready to go?” Padme asked, having at this point transitioned to wait in front of the door. 

“Yep, ready,” Anakin nodded, “let’s go save a Jedi.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> consistently uploading is for shmucks who have free time and don't keep getting distracted when looking up facts by entire series/replaying games. enjoy your 1k word updates less than a month at a time, sorry.  
in other news, I now know who starkiller is and i love him.


End file.
